Sports commentators say the darndest things, and this marvelous mashup was said on an NFL pregame show. It is a conflation of “the cream of the crop” (the best of a particular group) and “separate the wheat from the chaff” (to separate the good from the inferior). Because the subject was football, the commentator might also have been thinking of the phrase “separate the men from the boys” (to distinguish the experienced participants from the inexperienced). Kudos to Jim Kozlowski for hearing this one and sending it in!